


Training

by SincerelyGay



Category: inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Good Karma Delsin Rowe, No Romance, and augustine is crazy awful, dup fetch and eugene, haha hello its sad, it all takes place in curdun cay, not willingly tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 00:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13752270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SincerelyGay/pseuds/SincerelyGay
Summary: He was a failure, and every conduit in there knew it.





	Training

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something angsty. This was originally gonna have a happy ending but it really got away from me.
> 
> It takes place after-ish the game, as sort of an alternate ending. Instead of defeating Augustine and getting her powers, Delsin was captured and put into Curdun Cay. It's supposed to be good karma!
> 
> Wow look at me writing a fic w/o any sort of romantic relationship (but could possibly be read as super lowkey Delgenetch)

“Welcome to Curdun Cay, Mr. Rowe,” That smile made his stomach hurt. His hands were bound in a metal case and his arms were being held by two D.U.P. agents, “I’ve been watching you, gauging your abilities. I must say, I’m highly impressed.”

The dim light of the cell hurt his eyes as he looked from the ground up to her, “Fuck you.” Was all he spat back at her.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to allow you to remove the cuffs from your hands until we take all necessary precautions for your powers,” Augustine put her hands behind her back, “We will test your abilities tonight in our training center. Luckily, we have two exceptionally powerful conduits who are going to help us create targets for you.”

“What, you’re gonna have Eugene make those hard light demons?”

“Something like that,” She smiled again, turning to leave, “My soldiers will be back in a few hours to collect you. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable.”

Once she was gone and the heavy cell door was closed, Delsin stood up, making his way around the room. He’d always had anger issues, so it was natural that he’d be furious at the situation he was in. But all he felt was emptiness. He’d failed.

It was the fight against Augustine in the concrete tower, and Delsin had her exactly where he wanted her, begging for her life while lying on the ground. He’d started celebrating too early and let his guard down, which he didn’t even notice until his legs and arms were encased in concrete. Then there was a large dagger shot through his chest – his fast-healing wasn’t even enough to get rid of the ugly scar.

Augustine didn’t have a hard time getting her remaining soldiers to bring him in after that, and they even managed to catch Fetch and Eugene thanks to him. He had failed. He’d failed and the whole world knew it. That’s when he started to scream, pounding the metal box around his hands against the door. _Akomish men don’t cry_ , he thought, but he couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down his face. His brother was dead, his friends were right back in the prison they’d only just escaped from, and his tribe was going to die without that power.

He was a fucking failure.

* * *

 

“Prisoner,” Delsin looked up to see two soldiers wielding guns standing at his door. There was another prisoner wearing the same orange pants and grey hoodie as him walking past, only he couldn’t have been more than eleven years old. God, Augustine was fucked up, “Follow us.”

He stood up, taking a deep breath. As he made his way through the halls, one soldier in front of him and one behind him, several other prisoners looked up at him – clearly word of his fight had made its way back to Washington DC. They all knew he had failed.

A large, heavy door closed behind them and yellow lines appeared along the floor. One of the soldiers told him to stay long the line, eyes forward. They led him up to a wall which, when a passcode was entered into the keypad next to it, lowered to the floor. He was momentarily blinded by a bright light hitting him directly in the eyes and the soldiers pushed him inside, letting the sliding door close. As soon as it was closed, the cuffs unlocked and fell to the floor, and he rubbed his hands together to get the feeling back in them as he looked around.

It was a large, empty room covered in monitors and platforms. There were pillars of smoke coming from the ground and blue neon lights surrounded by yellow cages – clearly, this was the training room he’d been told about and those, along with the monitors, were energy sources.

“Mr. Rowe, welcome to your assessment,” A booming voice that he recognized as Augustine came over the speaker, “In this, we will be testing your level of power, as well as your resolve and your skills. Your goal is to fight the targets and stay alive. You must either kill or stay alive for thirty minutes. If not, it will show that you are not worth keeping around.”

He took a deep breath and shouted into the room, “Let me go! You can’t keep me here!”

“Oh, but I can,” Her sickening smile was evident in her voice. She had won, he had lost, “Look alive, Mr. Rowe. Your targets are entering now.” Two other doors in the room opened, and what came in made him want to vomit.

Fetch in a D.U.P. body suit and Eugene wearing the coats he’d seen on the soldiers with the concrete shields stepped in, looking around. They met eyes, clearly panicking, before looking to Delsin and shouting his name. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be free, to live their lives on the outside. Now they were trapped again because of him, and he couldn’t forgive himself, “Fetch? Eugene? What the hell is going on?” 

A flash of pink lit up the corner of his vision as Fetch tried to make a run towards him. She didn’t get more than a few feet, though, before she fell to the floor, clutching at the side of her neck. That booming voice came again, “Thank you for bringing these two back to me. They were being transported to begin their training to join my army when they escaped. Now that they’re back, I have officially welcomed them in. Their first task is to administer this test. We’ve inserted chips into their necks that give what would be a lethal shock to a human if they step out of line.”

His heart sank – he’d lost, his brother was dead, his tribe was as good as dead, and now he was going to have to fight his friends. Looking between them, he felt tears brimming in his eyes and he said, “Fuck, I’m so sorry, guys. This is my fault.”

“No it isn’t, Delsin,” Eugene said back. This kid had finally started to open up, and now he was stuck again, “We won’t fight you.”

“I don’t recommend that,” Augustine said, “We’re keeping our eyes on you now. You two are agents of the Department of Unified Protection now, and your loyalties lie with us. We’ve given Mr. Rowe instructions to fight the two of you to the death, unless he can survive a certain amount of time. If he doesn’t fight, he will have to watch you die for treason. Your test begins in ten seconds. Good luck.”

Delsin had to bite his lip hard to keep himself from crying. He couldn’t kill these two, he would never forgive himself. They’d helped him find his powers and become what he was. It was Fetch who spoke up as she picked herself up from the ground, “Psycho bitch!”

The monitors on the wall counted down the seconds.

**_5…_ **

How could he do this? None of this could be real.

**_4…_ **

His heart picked up speed. He felt completely and utterly helpless.

**_3…_ **

“I won’t do this!” He shouted into the room.

**_2…_ **

Fetch responded with, “You have to, D.”

**_1…_ **

“I’m so sorry,” He absorbed smoke from the chimney nearest him as the buzzer sounded, firing a missile directly at Fetch, barely missing her as she made a run up the wall, landing on a platform up top. Eugene stood where he was, a glyph lighting up around him several angels materializing.

Delsin dashed out of the way as one fired a beam of light at him, taking two out with smoke shots. The good thing about those angels and demons is that they were easy to take out. He made his way to one of the neon lights tucked behind a steel pillar and drained it quickly, running up the wall and landing on the platform Fetch was on with a small burst of light. She turned to look at him with apologetic eyes, “D, please don’t hate us.”

“I should be saying that to you,” He charged up a laser, “This is my fault,” He shot it, missing her. Instead, he fired several shots at her, hitting her several times, “I let you down. I let every conduit here down.”

She stumbled slightly, “No you didn’t. I know you can still save all of us.” As he stepped towards her, she let off a small explosion and ran off, like she did when they first met. He was knocked backwards, catching himself on the edge of the platform before dropping down right in front of Eugene.

The video conduit’s eyes were glowing blue as several more angels filled the space around him, Delsin taking them out with his targeted vision, “‘Gene, come back to me. You have to actually fight me or they’re gonna kill you.” Those glowing blue eyes turned back to normal as they made contact with the older’s.

“I’m not a fighter,” He said, right before crying out and grabbing his neck like Fetch had earlier. As he fell to his knees, wings materialized on his back. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing blue again, and he raised his hand to let three swords form in front of him, each one shooting at Delsin.

Two of them hit him square in the chest, right where his scar was. Delsin knew how ridiculously powerful his friends were – he was no match for either of them. He glanced at the time on the wall and saw that seven minutes had passed; he just had to survive another twenty-three. Nobody had to die.

That was when he was hit three more times, once by an angel’s beam and twice by charged up pixel shots. His vision began to go black at the edges and he could feel his heart beating in his ears. Eugene was going to kill him right then, no doubt. Where was Fetch?

A boot met his side and there was a small pink explosion, throwing him into one of the walls. He looked up to see Fetch standing where he just stood, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were glowing pink the same way Eugene’s eyes were glowing blue – what was wrong with them?

He stood up shakily, his quick-healing failing. There was a neon light nearby, so he mustered up his strength and sprinted over to it, stumbling and falling back to the ground a few feet short. The neon made his heartbeat steady itself and his vision returned to normal – he couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken that much damage. He wasn’t sure that he ever had.

Standing up, he dodged a laser and shouted out into the room, “What did you do to them?”

“Eighteen minutes, Rowe,” The voice came back, “Are you going to let them win, or are you going to begin fighting?" 

“I won’t kill them. But I’ll save them like I promised from the start.”

He charged up his laser and fired directly at Fetch, knocking her back. Turning into neon, she got back to her feet and came running at him, which he barely avoided, running up to a high platform on the wall. She appeared next to Eugene and it was clear that there was something entirely wrong with them.

The eyes, the uniforms, and their attacks – this wasn’t them. Eugene wasn’t wearing his glasses, Fetch’s nose ring was gone, these little things were enough for him to realize that she had done something. Was it mind control? How did she manage that?

“Tell me what you did!” He shouted, being knocked into the air by a wraith that had suddenly materialized. As he caught himself on the wall and ran back up to the platform, he pushed a wave of neon forward, trapping the wraith in a stasis bubble, and shot it out of the air, “Why are they like this?”

“Halfway there,” Was the only response. The window high on the wall showed that she was standing at it, watching his every move with a sick smile. He shook his head and went sprinting towards it, avoiding blue and pink shots coming from every angle. As soon as he was right up to it, he released a radiant sweep, shooting lasers at the glass – nothing. Probably some sort of reinforced glass to keep conduits in training from making their way through. He couldn’t hear her, but she was laughing.

Laughing at him.

As soon as he hit the ground, a beam of light was fired directly into his back, launching him into the wall. He fell to the floor with a loud crash, unable to feel his arm. There was a monitor a few feet away, so he dragged himself over and felt the electric buzz fill his veins. His arm was throbbing, but at least he could move it, so he let the sword appear in that hand and used the pixelated wings to fly at Eugene, who was standing where he was from the start, swinging the sword at him.

Except the sword went right through him as his figure disappeared. Delsin looked around desperately, only seeing the pink light of Fetch running around the room. Until he looked up and saw Eugene standing on a high platform, wings folded up closely to his back in order to conceal his position. But those eyes were a dead giveaway. So the sponge flew up the wall, landing on the platform on the opposite side of the room, three swords appearing in front of him and shooting at the other.

All three hit, making Eugene fall to his knees. _God_ , he was hurting him. He couldn’t stand hurting one of his best friends. Nine minutes left – no one had to die. So he flew over to the platform that the video conduit was on, raising his hands over his head and bringing them down.

Pixelated swords came down, trapping his feet against the steel so that he couldn’t move. The soft light made it clear that his face was covered in tears the same way as Fetch’s had been – she wasn’t totally in charge, but she was clearly hurting them. Delsin kneeled down in front of Eugene, putting a hand on his shoulder, “I’m going to help both of you.”

Glowing blue eyes faded back to normal as his face softened from the harsh but vacant expression that had been there before, “Delsin?” Then those eyes widened, “Watch out!”

A laser grazed the side of his face as he just barely dodged, hitting Eugene straight in the face. Fetch was watching from the platform he’d been on before across the room, “I’m going to help both of you. Stay here, I won’t hurt you.”

Six minutes left.

He didn’t feel ready to unleash a hellfire swarm on Fetch, so instead he flew over to her and swung with his sword. Melee attacks weren’t going to work as well with her, so he chose to fight fire with fire and ran to a nearby neon light, absorbing it into his fingertips and feeling it course through him. Neon always made his heart beat faster when he drew it in, which helped him feel ready to fight the flash of light that was running around the room.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Fetch!” He held up a hand, feeling the world around him slow down. The blur of pink became a figure moving along, making it easier to shoot a series of lasers at her. A few hit, stopping her from running and knocking her off the wall. She hit the floor and he hurried over to her, throwing a blast of energy at her, binding her arms and legs to her body.

At one minute and twenty seconds, the clock stopped counting and the monitors went red. He’d won, and he didn’t have to kill the only two he had left. The glowing pink eyes returned to normal, and he kneeled down next to her, pushing the hair from her face, “D? Jesus Christ you hit hard.”

He smiled, standing up when he heard the door open. Augustine walked in surrounded by soldiers, straight-faced with her hands behind her back, “I’m so very disappointed, Mr. Rowe.”

“You bitch,” He said through gritted teeth, sprinting at her. Before he could make it more than a few steps, concrete trapped his legs and his hands and the soldiers pointed their guns at him, “What did you do to them?”

A laugh escaped her lips, “We found a way to extract powers from conduits. Ms. Walker provided us with mind control abilities, which we turned around on her and Mr. Sims. The chips that we planted in their skin not only administer the shocks, but also allow us to do this.” She held up a remote, pressing a button as both of the others screamed, thrashing against the restraints. After a few moments of screaming, the restraints disappeared and both conduits moved to her sides in a flash of blue and pink. Those soulless, glowing eyes and blank faces sent a shiver down his spine.

Delsin gritted his teeth hard, “Let them go.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. They’re members of my team now. I feel that the implementation of powerful prime conduits into our ranks will prove beneficial. That’s why I’m excited to welcome you here to Curdun Cay to begin your training,” She nodded.

Did she really expect him to accept that? There was no way that he was going to join her tyrannical reign, “My training?”

“Yes, this fight was the beginning. We do have one more test to give you, though,” Concrete encased the arms of the conduits standing on either side and they were lifted up off the ground to either side of the arena. It reminded him of the fight on the bridge – the one where Reggie died. Large spikes rose up from the ground underneath them, “We don’t have the room for three new officers. You need to save one of them to join you in our ranks. The other will die.”

He couldn’t help but laugh, probably because of his nerves, “You’re a fucking psychopath. Why can’t you keep me as a prisoner?”

“Because your power is so unique. Plus, with you, we’d already have both video and neon manipulation,” Augustine turned around and began to walk out, “And frankly, this is a test of your priorities. Choose wisely, Mr. Rowe.”

The door closed behind her and he was left staring around the room, his stomach twisting as he saw what was unfolding: the two people he had left in the world, their minds entirely taken from them, hanging defenseless. How was he supposed to only save one of them? If he had just focused during that fight with Augustine, he wouldn’t be in this position.

Those glowing eyes stared at him as a five-minute timer appeared on the screen. That’s when the idea came to him – if he could just free them from her grasp, then this would all be over. He could shoot the concrete and they could move out of the way. Fetch was stubborn as hell and would probably be easier to break free.

He took a deep breath, sprinted up the wall and landed on the nearest platform, shouting for her, “Fetch! Fetch you have to wake up!” There was no reaction. He charged up a laser, “I’m sorry about this,” and fired it at her, hitting her in the stomach. She began to swing slightly, but her eyes were still glowing.

**Four minutes.**

He would have used a radiant sweep, but he couldn’t risk it making her fall into the spikes below. So he sighed and kept shooting her and shouting her name, “Fetch, I need you to wake up! Think about everything we fought for! We beat those suppliers, we freed the hookers, we kicked the shit out of so many dealers.”

Nothing.

**Three minutes.**

Then it came to him, “Fetch, think about Brent! What would be have wanted? Wake up for him! Shit, I’m not gonna let this happen to you guys.” Even still, nothing at all.

He looked to Eugene across the arena, absorbing the video from a monitor in order to spawn his wings and fly to the platform near him. The angel’s wings were flickering in and out of existence – it was clearly in his orders to have them but the concrete was keeping him from using his powers, “‘Gene, please be in there, man.”

**Two minutes.**

“I need the two of you to wake up. You guys can’t die. You’re all I have.”

He was crying as he shot at the angel, not even caring about holding it back. _Akomish men don’t cry_. He repeated that mantra to himself, but it wasn’t worth it. _Akomish men don’t have to carry the weight of being responsible for the death of their brother, their best friends, and their entire tribe_.

“Fetch!” He called out, praying to wake them up, “Eugene!”

“Time is almost up, Mr. Rowe.”

**One minute.**

“Fuck,” he cursed to himself, tears running down his face and his neck. He’d fought so hard – _they_ had fought so hard. All he wanted was the help the conduits be free, and now he was trapped with them, “Wake up!”

**Thirty seconds.**

“I need you to wake up,” he fell to his knees, feeling weaker than he’d ever felt before. It wasn’t a lack of power; it was a lack of hope. Why couldn’t they keep him as a prisoner? Why could they only take two officers? Why was all of this _happening_?

**Fifteen seconds.**

He was out of time. There was nothing he could do – he had to kill one of them. He had to choose one of his friends to send to their death and one to save. Fetch was stronger-willed, she was the most determined person he’d ever known, and she had speed and stealth on her side. Eugene was more level-headed, he was smart as hell, and he had brute strength and numbers.

**Ten seconds.**

There was a painful beeping that filled his ears at the timer counted down. It was almost done. It was now or never. The only thing that was left to do was to was complete his mission.

**Five seconds.**

He lifted his hand.

**Four seconds.**

His fingertips began to glow as he charged up his laser.

**Three seconds.**

Fetch or Eugene. Fetch or Eugene. Fetch or Eugene.

**Two seconds.**

He had to make a choice now. If he didn’t, the consequences would be dire.

**One second.**

He put his hand to his chest just as his laser fired, stronger than it ever had before – probably because of his emotion. When he looked down, there was blood seeping down his body – pouring, actually. There was a hole through his chest, right over his heart, next to the scar from the dagger. He fell to his knees and coughed, red spurting out onto his hand.

The clock stopped counting, stuck at 0:01. Fetch and Eugene were carried by the concrete back in front of him as Augustine walked out. Every noise sounded like he was underwater and his vision was swaying. God, if he were a human that would have killed him right away. His powers were keeping him alive, letting him bleed out first.

“Oh, and we had such high hopes for you,” She stood in front of him with her arms crossed. He looked up at her, just lifting his head taking all of his energy. The concrete around the hands of his friends disintegrated and their eyes returned to normal.

That was the last thing that he saw, hearing them shout his name. That was the last thing that Delsin Rowe, the small-town delinquent who was supposed to save the conduits from imprisonment, was going to be known for.

* * *

 

Fetch came back to her senses, feeling like she was fully in control again.

That was when she saw it: Delsin, on his knees in front of Augustine. His hair had fallen into his face, but she could see that he was glaring up at her with blood coming out of his mouth. The puncture through his chest, still glowing at the edges, just made her sick.

Eugene called out his name first, trying to run to his side. He fell to the ground, clutching at his neck, but didn’t cry out from pain. She didn’t blame him; the image in front of them was the most painful thing of all. She called out his name next before turning to Augustine, “What did you do to him?” 

“He did this to himself,” Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was clearly trying to hide her smile, “It’s a shame. So much power wasted. Because he couldn’t make a decision.”

“He did it to save us,” Eugene said, standing up. Fetch didn’t know when she’d started crying, but her hand was over her mouth and there were tears pouring from her eyes. Delsin coughed violently, more blood coming out. The neon pulsing around him made it clear that his powers were trying to heal him, but the injury was too great – he was as good as dead. It was obvious that he couldn’t even hear them anymore.

She stuttered out, “Maybe we can save him.”

“He’s not worth the trouble,” Augustine said, lifting her hand up. As she did, several spears of concrete came out of the ground, piercing the power sponge – the chest, the stomach, and the neck. Red started dripping down them as the life left his eyes and he stopped struggling to breathe.

Both Fetch and Eugene were crying at this point, calling his name once more. That was when the tyrant pressed the button once more, sending that now-familiar scorching pain through every inch of their bodies. Once it had stopped, Fetch managed to cough out, “Why do you do this? Why did you kill him?”

“I’m building the conduits to a higher place, Ms. Walker.” She sighed, shaking her head, “He got in the way. Now come, it’s time for your training.”

Fetch looked at Delsin one more time. Those lips that were always saying some quip, those eyes that were always so full of fire, that face that always had a smug look – all of it was now still as he stared in one direction with his mouth hanging slightly open. She made eye contact with the video conduit, a silent agreement between them.

It was their fight now. They had to keep him alive in the fight for conduit freedom. They had to take down Brooke Augustine and the Department of Unified Protection from the inside.

Her vision went blurred as she felt herself losing control of her body. Unwillingly, the two of them followed Augustine out of the room. They may have been under her control, but they would find a way out. Brent, Jenny, Reggie, Delsin – all of these people would reap the rewards of their sacrifices.

Delsin Rowe had started a revolution. It was time to finish it.


End file.
